Streaming surpasses cable TV for first time

Streaming usage surpassed cable audiences for the first time ever last month, according to Nielsen.

Streaming represented a record 34.8% of market share while cable captured just 34.4%, revealed the latest data from The Gauge, Nielsen’s monthly total TV and streaming snapshot.

Broadcast, which was eclipsed by streaming previously, obtained 21.6% of market share.

Viewers flocked to streaming services instead of their linear counterparts. Nielsen states that audiences watched an average of 190.9 billion minutes of streamed content per week in July, easily surpassing the previous record of 169.9 billion average minutes that audiences watched at the outset of the pandemic lockdowns in April 2020.

Excluding the week of 27 December, 2021, the five weeks of July 2022 represent the highest-volume streaming weeks on record, according to Nielsen.

Outside of the change in market share, overall TV viewership was consistent from June 2022, as well as year-over-year from July 2021, implying that with other variables held constant, Americans are expanding their streaming consumption over time at the sacrifice of traditional TV.

Streaming grew 22.6% year-over-year, increasing its viewership share 6.5 points from July 2021.

Cable saw an 8.9% drop in viewership year-over-year, amounting to a 3.3 point loss in market share.

Broadcast, meanwhile, saw a 9.8% drop in viewership year-over-year, amounting to a 2.3 point loss in market share.